This paper presents a review of the literature focusing on the sexual life of elderly people. Even though many researchers have found that sexual life satisfaction is a major factor for quality of life during old age, many older people as well as nurses do not have appropriate knowledge of sexual life for elderly people nor of interventions to improve satisfaction with sexual life in elderly people.
Since there are no effective nursing interventions, this paper provides the following information which will be useful in the development of nursing interventions : 1) The nurse should provide holistic care to elderly people. 2) The nurse needs to improve her own knowledge and have a positive attitude to sexual life for elderly people. 3) When nurses provide consultation to elderly people on sexual problems, they need to provide a comfortable physical and emotional atmosphere and, if the elderly people are married, to educate both members of the couple together. Open communication skills about each partner's sexual needs and problems should be encouraged. 4) The nurse should help elderly people to have positive sexual attitudes. 5) The nurse should refer elderly people to the proper medical or surgical care providers when preventive sexual problems occur.